[UncleOxidant]

Having so much reliance on advanced semiconductors from an island that's potentially going to be invaded by China doesn't seem like a great plan for the US and Europe. It absolutely makes sense for both the US and Europe to incentivize production in their own countries to diversify. If the fabs in Taiwan were to be damaged without building up this domestic capability we'd have a tough time defending Taiwan after a while anyway.

[sergiotapia]

It's game theory no?

Having this beefy reliance on a small island that gives china the middle finger

-OR-

derisk the reliance on taiwan

[tetha]

I don't think it's that simple, because the effort necessary to employ the different choices are very different.

Stopping cargo going out of Taiwan is rather cheap. Unguided rockets and aircraft from your homeland can do a lot. And then they just have to defend near their home land while waiting for their opponent to run out of resources.

At the same time, as we can see here, it takes 4 years to go from acre to functional fab plant after planning and negotiations. And any kind of war to regain control of the chip supply lane is a significant drain on the chips and systems reliant on the chips you have.

[ironborn123]

Yes but both sides can play the game of blocking cargo. Malacca strait comes to mind.